Broadway Subway TBM makes first breakthrough
25 January 2023The first of two TBMs excavating Vancouver’s Broadway Subway Project has broken through at the future Mount Pleasant Station.
The 150m-long Herrenknecht machine, named Elsie, after British Columbian aircraft designer Elizabeth MacGill, bored a 6m-wide hole in the station’s east wall. Elsie was launched in October last year. The second TBM, Phyllis, was launched on November 29 and is expected to arrive at Mount Pleasant Station this spring.
Each machine will take approximately one year to dig the 5km from Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station to Cypress Street near the future Arbutus Station.
The Broadway Subway Project will extend the Millennium Line 5.7km from VCC-Clark Station to West Broadway and Arbutus Street, providing a fast SkyTrain service along the Broadway corridor. The Broadway Subway Project Corporation, an Acciona-Ghella joint venture, has the contract for the project’s design and construction.
The line is scheduled to open in 2026.
For a timelapse video of the TBM breakthrough, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al3AsHEcM04
